Despite being above my level of comfort, I rather enjoyed pushing myself. It was really an adrenaline rush and at times, I was sure I was flying. I come to a point where I am at the top of a hill which has an immediately sharp incline at the end. I fly down the decline and let gravity help me up the other side. It was a super adrenaline rush. I stopped at the top of another hill and prepare to do it all again at a steeper incline.
The uphill has a piece of carpet or something on it, I assume to halt erosion. I notice the roots under it and prepare for descent. I zoom down the hill. As the uphill gets closer, I notice the first ‘root’ is a diamond patterned, rope-looking thing stretched across the trail. As I run over a snake that I hope is already dead, I start to gasp and make some kind of unintelligible babble!
Of course, I am also going uphill and I can’t get all the way up in one go, especially not now! I get as far as I can before stopping and checking if I have really got an adventure on my hands. However, the snake is exactly where it had been. Whew!
I try to get my heart to slow to a normal pace. Relieved that I have survived unscathed, I look back again. To my horror, it’s slithering away! I nearly threw up!
That was enough for me! I was lost in this trail but quickly found a way out! I decided to ride on a road close by, preferring to take my chances with cars than with snakes.
Needless to say, I will not go to a trail I don’t know alone!
A Varner